Diabetes among both children and adults is becoming increasingly common in industrialized societies. Type I diabetes occurs most frequently in children and is associated with the inability of the pancreas to provide insulin as a result of an immune system attack on insulin-producing cells. Type II diabetes occurs most frequently in adults and is associated with insulin resistance such that the pancreas cannot produce sufficient insulin to provide the mechanism for glucose metabolism. Diabetes is associated with a complex pattern of negative consequences in addition to the direct physiological result of hyperglycemia and increased levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). These systemic indices of diabetes are often accompanied by additional deficits, including thermal hypoalgesia, pathology of small fibers, including those associated with the corneal nerves and sensory fibers in the dermis, and mental deficits due to nerve damage.
A family of U.S. granted patents, represented by, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,362,262, discloses low molecular weight compounds that are capable of stimulating neuronal growth. Subsequently, it was found that certain 2-amino-substituted nicotinamides were useful in treating depression, in particular, major depressive disorder in humans as described in PCT publication WO2015/195567. The negative deficits associated with diabetes, however, especially those associated with neural aberrations, are not addressed by these documents.